1 - How did your first chapbook or book
change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How
does it feel different?
My first chapbook gave me hope. I look forward to what my first book will
bring.

2 - How did you come to poetry first, as
opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction? I came to fiction first, actually. I've
also always thought in images, and then I took a Deborah Digges' course in
college, "Dickinson, Bishop, and Plath". And it was over.

3 - How long does it take to start any
particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it
a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or
does your work come out of copious notes? I definitely write in my head as I go
but don't get it out as regularly as I would like to and should. When I finally
sit down to it, it can come quickly then, but sometimes it doesn't.

4 - Where does a poem usually begin for
you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger
project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning? Definitely the former.

5 - Are public readings part of or
counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing
readings? I
get a bit of anxiety around readings but I am always glad I do them. I do love
hearing others read too.

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns
behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your
work? What do you even think the current questions are? I feel like I'm always
considering questions of longing.

7 – What do you see the current role of
the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think
the role of the writer should be? I'd like to think the eternal role is to declare.

8 - Do you find the process of working
with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)? I'm looking forward to the
experience!

9 - What is the best piece of advice
you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)? I was watching an episode of
The Affair the other night and one character
basically says to the other, Don't make
the mistake of wanting someone to understand everything about you, thinking
they fail you somehow, that it's not true love. There will always be something
about them that baffles you. No one gets all the help they need. But being with
someone makes it a little less lonely. And that makes a big difference. It
was just a striking thing for me to hear in that moment, on that day.

10 - What kind of writing routine
do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you)
begin? It's
generally all over the place. I'm at work early and get home late, so whenever
I can. Once I get going with something that seems promising, I'm impatient and
try to get to it as often as I can.

11 - When your writing gets stalled,
where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration? I listen more closely. I
read.

12 - What fragrance reminds you of home? Rice and beans cooking.

13 - David W. McFadden once said that
books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work,
whether nature, music, science or visual art? Yes, all those, everything. You can
trust a writer with anything.

14 - What other writers or writings are
important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work? I always look forward to the
work of my peers, who I'm always looking to to show me the way. I always look
back to the books that have been with me a long time, that I'm always looking
to to show me the way: The Unbearable Lightness of Being andLove in the Time of Cholera immediately come to mind.

15 - What would you like to do that you
haven't yet done?
Improve my Spanish and go to Colombia, where my mother is from. We're going in
August and I'm on that Duolingo. I know it's going to affect me so much and I
can't wait.

16 - If you could pick any other
occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you
would have ended up doing had you not been a writer? I'd love to be a chef!

17 - What made you write, as opposed to
doing something else?
Honestly it was the only thing that ever felt natural to me.